27 December 2004
By RICHARD WILLIAMS
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| Denis Smith |
 We had too many hopeful balls into the box. That's when you need the likes of Carlos Edwards, somebody who can go past people to open people up
|
Listen to Denis Smith's
reaction |
DENIS SMITH praised Chris Armstrong's coolness
under pressure.
Armstrong slotted home a last minute penalty to earn Wrexham a 1-1 draw in an
often ill-tempered clash at Bradford City yesterday after Steve Roberts had been
brought down in the area.
Wrexham boss Smith admitted there was pressure on Armstrong but had complete
faith in his striker.
Smith said: "I thought Chris, with the pressure on, didn't half stick it away
well. He thinks he's a good penalty taker and from what I've seen, he's right to
think that.
"He does stick them away well and I'm pleased with that because it was a
pressure one for us."
Bradford were reduced to ten men when Dean Windass was shown a straight red card
for abusive language towards referee Carl Boyeson, but Colin Todd's men went on
to take a second half lead.
Wrexham battled back and Smith, who admitted the penalty was a saviour, says it
was the kind of game where he could have done with Trinidadian winger Carlos
Edwards, who is expected back next month after a serious knee injury.
Smith said: "It was a lifeline in the end. Eleven against eleven it was a good
game. I thought perhaps we were edging it and then the sending off and that
always makes life difficult for the team with the eleven to go on and win.
"At the start of the second half it was just a matter of time. When they scored
we were up against it.
"We had too many hopeful balls into the box. That's when you need the likes of
Carlos Edwards, somebody who can go past people to open people up.
"We haven't got that type of player at the club at the moment. Hopefully Carlos
will be back next month.
"But then we got that break at the end. If it had have been me, I'd possibly
have been a bit disappointed. Other people have said it was a penalty and at the
end, the only person who matters is the referee and he's decided it was.
"We were quite happy to take it."
As for Windass' sending off, Smith added: "It looks as though it was swearing at
the referee, that's the only thing he could have been sent off for. I don't
know, you'll have to ask Dean and their manager what's gone on there.
"Obviously they'll be disappointed with it. The game was bubbling up quite a bit
in the first half, there was a few things going on. We tried to calm things down
at half time with the players, told them to keep themselves out of trouble, and
the second half was a little bit more pleasant."
The draw at Valley Parade stopped a two game losing streak and though Wrexham
did not pick up victory, Smith settled for a point.
But Smith knows Wrexham have got to be more assertive in front of goal and he
says his strikers in particular have got to start opening their opponents'
defence up.
Smith said: "It would have been nice to get the three points. We set the team up
differently, made a few changes, and I thought we looked compact and hard to
break down.
"We possibly didn't pass it as well as we usually do but we looked reasonably
solid. I thought when we had the opportunities to open them up we failed on
that. Little through balls, little one twos, we did not do enough of those
around their box.
"I thought we deserved some thing out of it but in the end we have got to
believe a little bit more around the 18 yard box. I had four strikers on and
we've had to have a set play (to get the draw).
"We had one kicked off the line from another set play from Dennis Lawrence.
There wasn't too many things where we opened people up and that's disappointing
because usually we are quite good at that. But we'll keep working on it.
"Up front the work rate was good but we've got to find an end product from
somewhere."
